by Watts, Russ
“Probably natural causes,” said Ava. “The ocean did the rest. Another shark would eat anything.”
“Okay, nothing to see here,” said Jonah. “Back to work everyone. Ava, come below with me, will you? Weir and Gills can take care of things up here.”
As the crowd dispersed I watched the shark drift away. It bobbed gently on the water and the air carried the stench away from the boat.
“Natural causes, my ass,” I muttered.
“What you talking ‘bout, Willis?”
Manny was right behind me and I jumped, startled. “Always the funny guy. I thought that you’d gone?”
Manny smiled. “You know, I could make a tasty sushi dish out of that bad boy,” he said, looking at the disappearing shark. “Several dishes, actually. All that meat gone to waste. Such a shame.”
“Yeah, right. Shark sushi.”
Manny held a dirty rag in his hands and the smile on his face faded. “So, why don’t you think it was natural causes? Nobody else seems bothered about it. It’s dead, right?”
“Sure, but a shark that size? What are the chances of it just dying, for no good reason? Hell, I don’t know how long sharks live for, but…” I glanced over at Chelsea. She had followed her mother to the wheelhouse where they were busy cleaning up after lunch. Weir and Gills were back at the console and I sighed. If I couldn’t convince Manny of what I’d seen then maybe I should forget the whole thing. “I saw something. Yesterday, back in New York.”
“When? You didn’t say anything.”
“Well, after you took a dunk everyone was busy, you know? I asked Pippa, but she said she didn’t see it.”
“See what, Luke?”
I knew it sounded crazy but I had to tell someone. “A shark. Bigger than the one you want to make sushi out of. Bigger than this boat, bigger than anything I’ve ever seen before.”
Manny looked at me straight-faced and then burst out laughing. “Good one, Luke. You’re trying to scare me. I get it. You should try Chelsea, maybe she’d be more gullible.”
“I’m not kidding around here, Manny, it was huge. And it took Mr. Johnson.”
Manny sniggered. “Sure it did. Jumped right out of the water and ate him whole, right?”
I sighed. I knew it wouldn’t be easy but I hadn’t expected this reaction. What was I really trying to achieve anyway? So what if Manny believed me or not? So what if any of them did? The shark was gone, back in New York. As long as we didn’t meet again then did it matter what I said? The ocean covered most of the planet and the shark could disappear in the vastness of it all. I should let it go. I knew I should, and yet something irked me. I guess I just wanted someone to listen, for one person to believe me.
“Manny,” I said, “just be careful, okay? There are things out there we don’t understand, that we haven’t seen before; this shark was big enough to take on anything. It was certainly ugly enough and big enough to kill a twenty-foot long Great White. And if it wanted to, it could take this boat down. So, don’t believe me, I’ve no problem with that. But at least watch out for Pippa and Chelsea for me, okay?”
“Okay, man, okay. Chill.” Manny looked at me as if I were insane. “I get it. I’m a little scared too. I never thought my future would be on a trawler and I’m not exactly keen on living out my days on the ocean. Yeah, there are things out there we don’t understand. But I’m not going to worry about things I can’t see. I’ll look out for your family, of course I will.” Manny took a step closer to me. “Just be careful yourself. They need you, man. Chelsea looks up to you, probably more than you realize. And Pippa needs you. She’s a strong-willed woman, but she’s also out here with a daughter in a place she doesn’t know. She’s going to need help getting through this, and talk of huge sharks eating people ain’t gonna help her.”
I nodded and bit my lip. “You’re right.”
“I know I am. So, maybe you saw a shark, maybe you saw something else. Whatever it was, it’s far behind us. Let it go and concentrate on tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow, huh? Any idea what that’s going to be like?” I asked.
Manny looked at the dirty rag in his hands. “If Jonah’s in it, I know it involves me cleaning his boat from top to bottom. And if I don’t get started soon, you can bet I’ll be hearing about it. Quite how I ended up being the janitor I don’t know. Still, there are worse jobs I could’ve been lumbered with, right, grease-monkey?”
“Always the joker, Manny.” I smiled and patted him on the back. “You enjoy your cleaning. I’m going to the engine room to do a real man’s work.”
“Oh no, you didn’t just say that.”
“Later, Manny.” I laughed as I headed toward Gills. A dirty rag flew past my head and landed on the deck at my feet.
“You’ll keep, Luke!”
I could hear Manny laughing behind me and I felt a little better. He was right. I had to forget about the shark and my fears. I had a job to do. We all had a place on the boat. I had to get on with it, focus on what I could do to make life easier for Pippa and Chelsea.
Gills took me to the engine room, leaving Weir up on deck, and we spent the next few hours going over things. If anything happened to Gills then they would be an engineer short, so I had to learn as much as I could. He dressed it up. Gills told me he needed help, an assistant, but I knew better than that. He didn’t need any help. He knew his way around the boat and an engine like I knew the back catalogue of Springsteen. It wasn’t a skill in much use anymore, but on quiet days back in the apartment I could sing most of his songs and it helped pass the time. With Gills, he was the same with engines and motors. Still, I was happy to learn what I could. I didn’t know what the future held but there may come a day when I did need to know what to do, even if it was on a different boat, one of our own when Jonah got sick of us.
That night was quieter than the previous one. We were all tired. Manny helped Gills out with the cooking. I think he enjoyed it. He was a trained chef after all, and Gills seemed happy with the help. We all got on well. Even Jonah stayed up a little longer to chat to us. He told us about some of the contacts he had, people he would trade with and places that were still running. I began to feel better about things, and I didn’t think about the shark anymore.
We stayed the night in a cove close to the Virginia border with North Carolina. It was quiet and sheltered, and Jonah seemed content. We saw nothing else all that day, no more boats, no more people, and no more sharks. Knott’s Island was the closest land mass that we could see, the nearby State Parks now completely submerged. I didn’t say anything to the others, but we used to have an Uncle who lived in Chesapeake. I hadn’t spoken to him for years, and I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to him.
In bed that night I looked over at Pippa. Chelsea was asleep but Pippa was awake and staring at the ceiling. “You remember Uncle Herick?”
Pippa turned to face me. There was a small window above me and the dull stars gave me only a faint glimpse of her face. She looked tired. I hadn’t noticed anything wrong, but when she spoke I felt her sadness. “Yeah, I remember. He’ll be dead now.”
Her words shocked me. It wasn’t that she was so callous and cold about it, but that she was so real.
“Yeah, I guess so. You don’t think anyone in Chesapeake is still there? There could be—”
“No. You know it’s gone. Just like Norfolk and Hampton. All those places we used to visit as kids are gone, Luke.”
“Right.” I tried to see Pippa’s eyes, but it was too dark. I couldn’t read her properly and she turned away from me again, to face the ceiling. “You know, he might have evacuated before it got too bad,” I suggested. “He might have headed inland, maybe to Raleigh or Charlotte. He always said he wanted to—”
“No.” Pippa’s voice was flat, lifeless. “He’s gone, Luke. It’s all gone.”
I listened to the gentle waves lapping at the hull. My stomach had gotten used to the movement now and the nausea had passed. The way the cabin groaned was reass
uring. It was cramped and uncomfortable, but it was home. At least for now. The Tukino was an odd place to live but it beat giving up.
“Jonah says we’re headed for Florida. He wants to stop at some place near Jacksonville first, but—”
“I’m tired, Luke,” said Pippa quietly. “We should get some sleep.”
“How are you doing, Pippa?” I could tell it was more than tiredness. If she wanted to sleep she would’ve dropped off like Chelsea did. She wasn’t snapping at me either. There was something on her mind. “What’s wrong?”
“Luke, Uncle Herick is gone. Old Mr. Johnson is gone. Mom and dad are gone, Chesapeake is gone and half of the US is under water. I feel queasy all the time and have to bring my daughter up on a boat. That good enough for you?”
“They may be gone, Pippa, but we’re not. I’m not. Things will get better.”
“Better? I just want to go home. I wish we could go back to our apartment. I know it was cramped and smelly, and we had no food to speak of. But it was home. This isn’t. What are we going to do? My head’s hurting from thinking about it. That’s all I’ve done the past couple of days. I’m trying to figure out what kind of future this is for Chelsea.”
I looked across at Chelsea. She was perfectly still and breathing quietly. If only we could all sleep as well as her.
“And that shark we saw today? What if it hadn’t been dead? What if we were attacked? I don’t know the first thing about living on a boat.”
“Jonah will teach us. He’ll look after us as long as we want to be here.”
“Do you?” Pippa asked. “Do you want to be here, Luke?”
I had to think about that one. I didn’t think a simple yes or no would suffice. It wasn’t really a choice I had contemplated. We were here and it was all we had. Going home was out of the question since it had fallen into the sea. Where else would we go? “We could cut and run, but I couldn’t see any other option right now.”
“I need to sleep,” whispered Pippa. “We can talk more tomorrow. When Chelsea is awake. Let her sleep.”
“Okay.” I wanted to say something reassuring, to let her know that she shouldn’t worry and we would be okay. But I didn’t want to lie. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
Pippa remained silent and she turned her back to me. I hadn’t considered that Pippa might have different ideas to me. I had assumed she was happy on the boat. The last two days had flown by. Chelsea seemed fine and so had my sister. Perhaps we were going to have to make some difficult decisions after all. But starting again, on the mainland? How would we find anywhere to live, anywhere with enough food and clean water to support us? I guess I had adapted to life on the boat quicker than Pippa. There was no prize for that, and I almost felt guilty about it. Pippa had never given me any indication she was unhappy. I knew she was scared, worried even, but the thought of returning home or finding dry land hadn’t occurred to me. There was a lot to consider and if Pippa wanted off the boat then I was going to have a hard decision to make. I liked Ava and could imagine myself out on the ocean, catching fish and making something of myself. Yet I couldn’t leave Chelsea. I had raised her like a daughter and to think of leaving her now troubled me. How could I leave Pippa on her own? I let troubled thoughts run through my mind as I tried to sleep. The cabin rocked gently and soon enough I felt sleep grabbing at my body, pulling at the frayed edge of my mind.
A drop of water splashed on my head and I felt it dribble down my cheek. Another followed it and then I heard the voices. They were muffled, disguised, but I knew it was the crew. They were up on deck. The cabin was pitch black and I called out to Pippa and Chelsea, but there was no answer. Another drop of cold water hit my face and I sat upright, banging my head once again on the low ceiling. Swinging my feet over the bunk I immediately felt water embrace my feet.
“Pippa? Chelsea?” I jumped into the water and felt in their beds, but they were empty. More muffled voices above me, sounding more and more like shouting. I rummaged beneath my pillow for the torch I stored there in case of an emergency and it wasn’t there.
Feeling my way toward the door I felt something float past me in the water. Cold, slimy tentacles wrapped around my ankle and I fought the urge to scream. Reaching down I pulled at whatever had grabbed me and yanked the seaweed off me. I struggled forward and reached the door to the other bunkroom.
“Ava? Hello?”
No answer. I felt panic rising and the utter darkness wasn’t helping. I lurched forward to the stairs and felt relief swamp me when my probing fingers found the handrail. The voices above me became clearer as I climbed the staircase. My vision began to become clearer too as I neared the bridge. The boat was illuminated by a bright moon and reaching the upper cabin I shivered. It was cold. It was the dead of night and I just knew that something terrible had happened. My legs were freezing from wading through the water and I was scared to turn and face the open deck. I knew it was bad.
Pulling open the cabin door, I came face to face with Jonah. He looked at me with wild eyes.
“Take care of her, Luke.”
“Who?” I shouted. “What’s happened?”
Jonah disappeared into the night and I heard footsteps marching toward the cabin. Weir strode past me, a harpoon in his hand and blood running down his face. I scanned the deck for the others. Dark shapes flitted across the boat urgently. I told my feet to move, to go find help, but they refused to budge. My hands gripped the cabin door and I was afraid. I was afraid we were sinking and I was already too late. I’d lost them.
“Pippa? Chelsea? Where are you?” I called to them, yelling as loud as I could, straining my voice. “Where are you?”
Suddenly the boat lurched and I felt myself twisting away from the cabin, my feet unable to support me. I crashed onto the deck, my hands taking the brunt of the impact. More feet ran around me and I reached up, grabbing hold of someone’s leg.
“Please. What’s happening?”
Ava looked down at me and raised her hands to her face. “You’re going to drown.” She laughed and laughed, looking at me with disgust in her eyes.
Shocked, I let go of her leg and she ran off into the night. I jumped up and saw Manny and Gills stood by the console. I had to find them. I ran to the stern, to the bridge, covering every inch of the boat, but they weren’t there. “Chelsea!” I screamed. “Chelsea! Pippa, where are you?”
A hand grabbed my shoulder and I turned around to find Pippa staring at me.
“Take care of her, Luke.”
Something slammed into the boat again and we both slipped toward the railing. Pippa was thrown hard against it and her head cracked against the wooden deck as she fell. I managed to wrap my hands around her as I was pulled toward the ocean.
“No!” I felt water splashing at my back and then a huge wave crashed over us. When the water had subsided, Pippa was gone.
“Pippa?” I clawed at the railing and got to my knees. The dark ocean was slamming into the boat and I saw Pippa’s body floating face-down in the water. My heart raced as another wave slammed into us and the water pulled her body down out of sight.
As the second wave subsided I saw more bodies in the water. I recognized the oilskins of the crew. I saw Gills, Weir and Jonah and beside them my friend, Manny. They were all dead. Jonah’s lifeless body bobbed to the surface next to them and then I saw it. A red hat. I felt fear pulling at my heart, tears stinging my eyes. The red hat sank beneath the water, the black water taking its victims down to the seabed. As a huge, third wave soaked me, I closed my eyes. I was too late. How could I have slept through this? Where was she?
With the boat leaning perilously close to tipping over I grabbed the railing and tried to hold on. We were at such an angle now that it was impossible to stand. Had we run into rocks? Was it a passing storm? Sea-spray stung my eyes and through gritted teeth I called out to Chelsea, but I still couldn’t find her.
Another body. In the ocean, a few feet away, I saw a girl. Her bloated body floated free, her blond
e hair flowing around her body. Her eyes were wide open, locked in a death stare, and seeing Ava like that made me terrified. They were all gone. Ava was gone. My sister was gone. The whole crew had been wiped out.
“Uncle?”
There she was. Chelsea suddenly appeared in the water right beneath me. She was gasping for air, her face scalded red with the effort of trying to swim. She reached an arm up to me and I held my hand out for her to take. She was too far away.
“Uncle? Please help me,” she pleaded.
Beneath Chelsea, something stirred in the water. Its vastness was undeniable and for a moment I thought it was the shadow of the boat. Yet it moved and swam around her, circling her.
“Chelsea, take my hand!” I strained every muscle in my body to reach her, but it was just too far.
The shape beneath Chelsea began to take form. Even in the black water I could see. I saw its fin as it rose to the surface. I saw its big black eyes and its jaws open. I heard it roar as it broke the surface and its mouth opened wide. Hundreds of jagged teeth ringed Chelsea and she screamed, flailing as she fell into its jaws. The shark would swallow her whole and as it rose up out of the water I shrank back. It was inches away from the hull and I heard Chelsea scream as the huge shark closed its jaws around her.
“No. No, no, no!”
It couldn’t come down to this.
“No!” I screamed again.
“Luke. Luke?”
A hand brushed my shoulder. Who was left? They were all dead.
“No!” The shark disappeared back into the ocean and I closed my eyes. I had been too slow.
“Luke!”
A hand slapped my face and I opened my eyes. Sweat drenched my face and I reached out to grab their wrist before they could slap me again.
“Luke, it’s okay.”
I could feel Ava’s pulse as I held her and I felt confused.
“But… but you were—”
“You were dreaming,” she whispered. “I heard you from the other room.”
The cabin was pitch black and I called out to Pippa and Chelsea, but there was no answer. I sat upright, banging my head once again on the low ceiling. It felt all too familiar. Was it really nothing but a nightmare?